"JACK!"
Jack's face instantly lit up at the sounds of the Burgess kids. They giggled as snow landed on their noses and clapped as Jack did a somersault in the air and landed perfectly on his feet.
"Your snow day," he bowed to the children. "For the Kings and Queens of Burgess!"
"YAY!" they all cheered.
Jack then started an epic snowball fight. Jamie and his friends ganged up on Jack and trampled him with snowballs. He once again dramatically fell to the ground, so the rest of the kids decided to dog pile him. He grunted as each kid jumped onto him. They all laughed before letting Jack get up.
Jack played with the kids until they were called for dinner. They gave Jack sad goodbyes (and Jamie gave him a breath-taking hug) and headed for home. Jack slowed the snow as he walked down the sidewalks of Burgess, smiling as he thought about the fun he spread today.
That was when he heard a child's cry.
Jack instantly shot into the air, heading towards the sound of the child. He flew into an alleyway, only to find it empty.
"Hello?" he called out.
"Hello … Jack."
Jack looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice.
"You may've selflessly come to a non-existent child's aid," the voice said slowly and softly. "But no one will have the chance to come to your aid."
Something hit Jack in the back of the head, hard. He collapsed to the ground, barely conscious. The person that struck him took his staff, and Jack closed his hand to process that his staff was gone. Then the person grabbed him by his hoodie and began dragging him out of the alleyway.
"Let's visit your lake, shall we?"
Jack felt fear start to rise inside him and the person chuckled, feeling Jack tense up underneath his hoodie. He tried to fight his heavy eyes, but they finally won and he passed out, praying the Guardians would find him before it was too late.
Melinda, Daisy, Friedrich, and Chris all walked into the Globe Room to see the Guardians (minus Jack) sitting by the fire, talking about Christmas preparations.
"Where's my son?" Melinda asked.
"I put him to bed hours ago," North answered, snatching up another cookie and earning a glare from Tooth. "Boy exhausted himself helping me design toys."
"You got him to do work?" Friedrich asked in shock.
"What did you do to our brother!" Chris dramatically gasped, making everyone else laugh.
Elves burst in, bringing trays of hot chocolate and cookies for the newly arrived spirits. They gladly took the offers and found themselves spots on the comfy couches placed by the fireplace. They talked for another half an hour before Phil burst into the room, freaking out and yelling something so fast that even North couldn't understand him.
"Phil, you must calm down," North said, going over to his Head Yeti and placing a hand on the furry shoulder. "Now, tell me what's wrong."
The yeti relayed his message, and the jolly color drained from North's face as Phil continued to speak.
"North?" Tooth asked. "What's wrong?"
"Jack has left workshop!" he panicked, turning to his sword rack and pulling out his two swords. "He was gone from room and window was open! We must go find him, now!"
"Where could he have gone?" Daisy asked. "He has no other home."
"Burgess," Bunny suggested. "He'd go to Jamie and Sophie. He wouldn't want them to worry if he didn't visit every once in a while."
"Then to Burgess we go," North said, grabbing a snowglobe. "Everyone prepares themselves. We don't know what we'll walk into."
I know it's short but I wanted to leave a good cliffhanger! Let me know what YOU think is going to happen! (Bet none of you will be able to guess!)
